“In a country where more than eight in 10 people regard themselves as religious, it takes more than a little guts to preach about a world without God. But that’s the message that is creeping across America, spreading ripples of dissent in its wake.
From Tampa in Florida, to Cincinnati, Ohio, and all the way across to Sacramento in California, billboards have been cropping up with messages that run across the grain of America’s normally devout discourse. “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone!” were the first posters to be put up, in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and parts of the north-east. “Being a good person doesn’t require God,” read another.
The billboards are the work of a national group of atheists – or nontheists, as they call themselves – called United Coalition of Reason that seeks to encourage nonbelievers throughout America by bringing them together.”
Read more at The Guardian (thanks, KirstyJ)
That is awsome!
Isent it odd that people who proffess not to beleve in a deity, Have to recrute others to beleve what they beleve. That sounds strangely like a religion to me. At the least It sounds like a cult process.
Yay awesome. We’ve been thinking of some similar efforts here in South Africa, but that will require even more guts than in the US.
We’ve had these for a while in the UK have we not? I’ve certainly seen them before.
It certainly takes some guts to put those up in places like Texas, but it would be great to see what the census says in a years time when poll’d again as we know how susceptible to advertising America is
God fearing america is, by definition, disturbed.
I love that ad tagline.
When these pop up in Afganistan and the like, then I would say the guys have some balls. Until then, its like putting a pin on the teachers\’ chair :/ scampish, but not something that took alot of strength.
by the way no body that is trully God fearing would be shocked at any of this. It’s been going on since the beginning of time. No worries
I’m a Christian, and this really doesn’t bother me. People need to find groups of like-minded individuals. If you’re a non-believer, take heart that there are others out there who believe the same things that you do.
With that said, what I hate is the battle between the religious and nonbelievers. I scold my Christian friends when they berate nonbelievers, and it’s disheartening when I see nonbelievers bash religious people for believing in anything. Carl Sagan said, “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” We are talking about something that lies outside the reach of pure science. So, if you can’t prove it or disprove it, why do we still fight? In fact, if God doesn’t exist, then why does it matter if people believe or not? If the contrary, why don’t religious types act kinder?
Why are GOD loving (or fearing) people so angry all time.. does the bible not teach them to respect everyone?
Good.
If religious people can get into groups based on their religion, then atheists can get into groups based on their lack of religion. Although I think most religious people don’t have a problem with this, but it seems there’s a vocal minority who want to be intolerant of everyone different and give religion a bad name.
I’m sure i saw a story similar to this in Southampton, and the driver of the bus refused to drive it, saying “it offended him.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDl3c-PFqCQ
here’s the website:
http://unitedcor.org/about.htm
they do have balls to put that kinda thing up in tampa! :0 but i dont get it– they are affiliated with atheist & humanist groups; so what’s the difference between an atheist & a “nontheist”? just a matter of rebranding by semantics?
Bloody awesome the should it stick onto the buses here in Holland too.
Mr Aaron Smith’s misquotes Carl Sagan. The dictum is “Absence of PROOF is not PROOF of absence”. Absence of evidence isn’t really anything other than absence of evidence full stop. You are in fact quite free, if you so choose, to take absence of evidence as evidence of absence. But this is a conscious human choice, an act of will, and not a forced consequence of any rational logic.
‘Atheistic Billboards Disturb God-Fearing America’
Well, they would, wouldn’t they?
I don’t get this, to be honest. Yeah, atheists are perfectly at liberty to put up signs like this – it doesn’t hurt anyone – but what do they DO? I mean, no one forms a deep personal belief just by looking at a sign! It’s just like all those signs outside churches telling us that ‘Jesus is the way’ – you barely look at them, and wonder whether or not anyone would actually opt in to a belief based on what a sign told them to do.
But, if it’s a mostly Christian area, people do have a right to hear about different points of view, rather than be restricted to just one.
I visited Texas last year and there were christian billboards EVERYWHERE. Also 40% of shop owners I talked to said “God Bless”, “Jesus Be With You” instead of “Have a nice day” like normal people would say.
This billboard I fear, would be burned to the ground the first night it was posted…
-Ethan
Twitter: @RealEthanCaine
@Aaron Smith “outside the reach of pure science” ??!?
There was a billboard put up about fifty yards from my house in Cincinnati. It was pulled down in two days because the building owner received so many threats. When I asked one of my contacts at the police department whether the threats were being investigated (as they normally would) he basically told me not to hold my breath waiting for that one.
That’s the country I’m living in and exactly why atheists need to be more vocal and less afraid.
Jess xxx
The purpose of the billboards is to let like-minds know that they’re not as isolated and alone as they may think.
I am waiting for the day when I see an atheist (sorry “non-theist”) preacher in the town center, passing out leaflets – and screaming out his message. That would be awesome
if only for the fun of seeing it live.
Or perhaps, a bunch of scientists going around to a jehovah witness kingdom hall and passing out pamphlets from the Royal Society.
Intersting that the Guardian didn’t use a real photo of an advert on a bus, and instead used a bus slogan generator that you can find here – http://ruletheweb.co.uk/b3ta/bus/
@Steve Stewart
Hmm, comparing the picture that the guardian took, and the picture at the slogan generator, I’m pretty certain that it’s not the same picture. The people are in different places, the background behind the bus is different, and the slogan is tilted not straight.
So I’m going to go with the guardian has a real picture. Since one of their columnists organised the athiest bus campaign, they probably managed to get one of their photographers to take a picture at some point!